Top Technology Trends, 2001 ALA Midwinter Meeting

2001: a Technology Trends Odyssey

In the third annual discussion of trends that you need to be aware of in planning for your library, LITA technology leaders
Karen Coyle ,
Clifford Lynch ,
Eric Lease Morgan ,
Thomas Peters ,
Joan Frye Williams , and
Tom Wilson visited (and in some cases, revisited) a variety of ongoing technology issues affecting libraries. This discussion took place at the Midwinter Conference of the American Library Association in Washington, DC, on January 14, 2001.

Although not even these selected discussion participants would claim to be able to tell you exactly what tomorrow will bring, they monitor the technology environment so that they can give you a "heads-up" on what's on the horizon. So, apes gathering around a black monolith? Or techno-prophets you need to listen to? You make the call!

The group is still keeping a close eye on trends in e-books, but the picture has remained murky as to what formats and reading devices will continue to be viable. Microsoft, Adobe, and Gemstar have emerged as major players. The group did agree that, in a variety of ways we can't even foresee yet,
e-books are giving birth to the concept of the book, not as fixed and unchanging, but renderable in a variety of forms.

In today's electronic, quick-response world, libraries may not be able to rest solely on their free-access laurels. Although in the days of the digital divide, libraries are even more important as an open and equitable public-access point for the world of information,
a large part of our clientele are getting used to speed and demanding convenience. They are becoming used to having convenient options if they're willing to pay for them.

Resources:

The idea of "Convenience" reflects a user/patron view of information retrieval and consumption, oriented towards a modern lifestyle where speed is often more important than thoroughness or even quality.

Internet Study Fact Sheet
Summary of a report by the Urban Library Council. Patrons compared and rated reasons for using the library vs. using the internet.
Best quote: "Reasons for nonuse of the library selected by most respondents (who reported that they
do not use the library ) appear to be related to lifestyle choices."

Users are asking "Why can't the library's catalog search a million items as fast as Google can search a billion?" and they may soon be asking "Why does the library take the time to tell me how many centimeters tall a book is, but nothing about whether it's any good or not?"
If we continue to see the world solely through the prism of the library catalog, will we be looking at that world all by ourselves?

How can we "automate the shop floor" of the library? The shortage of library professionals means that the jobs of those we do have need to be "reprofessionalized," and the productivity of laborious functions like physical inventory (collection) management must be increased. Radio Frequency Identification technology used to track library materials is already being implemented. Could Speedpass automatic payment technology help? Libraries must look to functions in industry comparable to those we do, in order to survive and thrive.

Pager’s and cell phones used with managing time and expertise of professional reference staff.

Will attempts to "repatriate" the Web be successful? Yahoo's imbroglio with France over the sale of Nazi memorabilia on its auction site and Germany's attempts to fight neo-Nazi hate speech on the Web raise the question "How 'world wide' is the Web?" The group did not believe that ultimately countries would be successful in enforcing national laws in an international arena, but already these attempts have resulted in changes in what some major Web players allow through their sites.

These trends build on, but don't negate, issues identified in past Top Tech meetings, so don't forget to take a look back from the
Top Technology Trends website.

Resources:

The resource list is broken down into two categories. The first deals with illustrative cases in particular countries, showing that many countries have become involved with this issue.

The second section focuses more on the jurisdiction / censorship aspect of the issue, as most issues related to national boundaries have to do with these topics.

Countries and National Boundaries

Canadahttp://www.efc.ca/pages/media/gazette.31jul97.htmlNet user to take on OLF in court.
This discusses a case in Canada in which a Quebec based Website did not follow rules that specified certain items must be in French, the official language of the province.

ChinaBeijing cracks down on Net
http://www.e-businessworld.com/english/crd_ebiz_259063.htmlThis article details some information on new Chinese regulations applicable to both Internet content and service providers, such as banning dissemination of any information which would threaten the government's goal toward reunification with Taiwan.

FranceThe Net now has a national court: this month it's French!
http://www.netfreedom.org/news.asp?item=137This article details a recent issue in which a French judge asked Yahoo! (in America) to prevent French Internet users from accessing auctions of Nazi memoribilia. Among other things, the question was asked as to whether this was even technically possible.

Italyhttp://www.leepfrog.com/E-Law/CDLB/Jurisdiction.htmlLong Arm of the Law Reaches Far Into Cyberspace
Part of this article discusses a case involving an Italian web site violating a pre-Cyberspace (1981) injunction against distributing particular material in the US, due to copyright infringement on Playboy magazine's trademark rights.

Cyberspace Law Bibliography, from The UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/bib.htmlThis is a detailed bibliography detailing jurisdiction in Cyberspace issues, including such issues as copyright law, trademark law, etc.

Litigation In Cyberspace: Jurisdiction And Choice Of Law: A United States Perspective
http://www.abanet.org/buslaw/cyber/initiatives/usjuris.htmlThis treatise discusses how law is trying to grapple with issues brought about by the Internet. It mentions that international liability is not a major concern in many instances.

Jurisdiction In Cyberspace: A Theory of International Spaces
http://www.mttlr.org/volfour/menthe_art.htmlThis paper carries on a legal and somewhat philosophical discussion regarding what and where exactly cyberspace is, with the hopes that some understanding or relation to this would enable one to better grapple with juristictional issues related to the Internet. It compares cybersapce with other "international spaces," such as outer space.

Censorship 2000
http://www.isoc.org/oti/articles/1000/barlow.htmlThis lenghty article talks about the "global epidemic of virtual censorship," via access blocking, filtering, ratings systems, etc. It discusses such things as Germany banning German sites from carrying the magazine Radikal, and talks about the Group of Eight industrial nations stating that there is a need for Internet regulation to address certain issues.